LendingTree recently released a report that found Millennials make up the largest share of U.S. homebuyers, surpassing older – and wealthier – generations. The housing market has been dominated for the past decade by millennials, according to new data.
Among the nation’s 50 largest metros, LendingTree analyzed mortgage offers for users of its platform between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2022, in order to determine where millennials are looking to buy a home.
The average number of mortgage offers made to millennials in the 50 largest metro areas was 52.88%. In 37 of the nation’s 50 largest metro areas, millennials are the majority of buyers. The millennial generation still makes up the majority of buyers, even in metros where most purchases don’t come from them.
San Jose, California, Denver, and Boston have the highest share of potential homebuyers who are millennials. Millennials received 63.57% of mortgage offerings in San Jose. The figures were 60.59% and 61.35% in Boston and Denver, respectively.
In Las Vegas, Birmingham, Ala., and Phoenix, millennials make up the smallest proportion of potential buyers. Mortgages offered to millennials averaged 44.66% across these metros.
The oldest millennial homebuyers are in Miami, Miami Beach, and San Francisco. Birmingham, Ala., Salt Lake City, and Denver have the youngest potential millennial homebuyers with an average age of 32.16, more than a year younger than in Birmingham, Ala., Salt Lake City, and Denver whose average age is 33.31.
San Jose, San Francisco, and Boston have the highest average credit scores among potential millennial homebuyers. These three metros had an average credit score of 748. The average credit score for millennial homebuyers in Memphis, Tenn., Birmingham, and Las Vegas – the metros where millennial credit scores were lowest – was 713.
Millennials had to put down the largest down payments on their homes in California’s expensive metros of San Jose, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. These three areas averaged $129,965 for down payments. Compared to St. Louis, Virginia Beach, Va., and Oklahoma City – the metros with the smallest down payments – that figure was almost three times higher.
